2 Kings 1:8

8 And they answered him, [He was] a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It [is] Elijah the Tishbite.

2 Kings 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 1:8

And they answered him, he was an hairy man
Either the hair of his head and beard were grown very long, having been much neglected for a great while; or he had an hairy garment on, either of goats' hair, such as the Chinese wear ^F6, whose women spin it, see ( Exodus 35:26 ) and of which garments are made; or of camels' hair, such as John the Baptist wore, who came in his spirit and power, and imitated him in his dress, being also, as Elijah here, girt with a girdle of leather about his loins:
for more expeditious travelling, not for warmth, the climate being hot: and he said, it is Elijah the Tishbite;
for he had seen him formerly in his father's court in this dress.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Semedo's History of China, part 1. ch. 3.

2 Kings 1:8 In-Context

6 And they said to him, There came up a man to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king that sent you, and say to him, Thus saith the LORD, [Is it] not because [there is] not a God in Israel, [that] thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

7 And he said to them, What manner of man [was he] who came up to meet you, and told you these words?

8 And they answered him, [He was] a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It [is] Elijah the Tishbite.

9 Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and behold, he sat on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.

10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I [am] a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.